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Changing Vista to XP

microsoft.public.windows.vista hardware devices

Hello, I am trying to change my Vista operating system to XP, no offence to
the microsoft people, but i think Vista has been their worst creation yet.
Anyway, i have my XP disk and when i insert it, its loading the setup and
then it says "cannot find any hard disk drives, setup cannot continue, press
F3 to exit setup". How do i fix this? How can i make my hard drive noticeable
for the setup? Please help

You need to contact your computer manufacturer and get Windows XP compatible
drivers, or else you won't be able to install XP. Windows XP does not have
drivers for whatever hard drive controller is in your computer, for
starters; probably not for most if all of the devices within it.

"Hello, it''s me!" <Helloitsme@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:C8234A2F-0695-4C46-95B3-73EFFC92CAEB@microsoft.com...
> Hello, I am trying to change my Vista operating system to XP, no offence
> to
> the microsoft people, but i think Vista has been their worst creation yet.
> Anyway, i have my XP disk and when i insert it, its loading the setup and
> then it says "cannot find any hard disk drives, setup cannot continue,
> press
> F3 to exit setup". How do i fix this? How can i make my hard drive
> noticeable
> for the setup? Please help

Before you try you need to asertain whether winxp drivers exist for your hw
Your specific problem is likely because you have a sata drive/controler and
in order to install winxp you would need to use the F6 option, early in the
install process, to install sata/raid drivers from floppy, then your hd will
be detected.

"Hello, it''s me!" <Helloitsme@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:C8234A2F-0695-4C46-95B3-73EFFC92CAEB@microsoft.com...
> Hello, I am trying to change my Vista operating system to XP, no offence
> to
> the microsoft people, but i think Vista has been their worst creation yet.
> Anyway, i have my XP disk and when i insert it, its loading the setup and
> then it says "cannot find any hard disk drives, setup cannot continue,
> press
> F3 to exit setup". How do i fix this? How can i make my hard drive
> noticeable
> for the setup? Please help

Well, I downloaded several XP drivers like sound and wireless, but i don't
see any hard drive ones. Anyway are a few problems. 1) Now i can't start up
my computer with my old operating system, well i just don't know how, can
some1 tell me how to do it.
and 2) i don;t have a floppy disk drive, i have a new "Satellite" Toshiba
notebook.
3) when i press F6, nothing happens, the installation just keep going.

"Andrei" <Andrei@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:68239B13-8BBA-48EA-9978-BCEAF6DE5699@microsoft.com...
> Nvm, the F6 works, but i don't know what to do next. Is there any way to
> start up my Vista again, so i could use my computer.

Yes, contact the vendor and ask what provision exists to recover your
computer to the state that it left the factory..

If you have SATA hard drives then you will need the harddrive controller
drivers and you need to provide them when the message appears in the marquee
at the bottom to press F6 to provide drivers. You will need to have them on
a floppy. If your computer does not have a floppy drive you should buy and
intall one.

"Hello, it''s me!" <Helloitsme@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:C8234A2F-0695-4C46-95B3-73EFFC92CAEB@microsoft.com...
> Hello, I am trying to change my Vista operating system to XP, no offence
> to
> the microsoft people, but i think Vista has been their worst creation yet.
> Anyway, i have my XP disk and when i insert it, its loading the setup and
> then it says "cannot find any hard disk drives, setup cannot continue,
> press
> F3 to exit setup". How do i fix this? How can i make my hard drive
> noticeable
> for the setup? Please help

You have to provide a floppy with the SATA drivers after you press F6 and
the system stops to ask for it.

You can boot with your Vista dvd and use the repair functions to get Vista
going again.

"Andrei" <Andrei@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:68239B13-8BBA-48EA-9978-BCEAF6DE5699@microsoft.com...
> Nvm, the F6 works, but i don't know what to do next. Is there any way to
> start up my Vista again, so i could use my computer.

"Andrei" <Andrei@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:E83FBA73-D8AD-43D3-81A6-88F1457B69E8@microsoft.com...
> oh yeah, there is the full on recovery button, ok thanks everybody, i
> guess
> ill fully reset my computer first and work on the problem from there.